Richmond Olympic Experience

At ROX, visitors lace ’em up and experience what a world-class athlete feels as they compete on the international stage. EDM created both the feature visitor-facing software as well as the back-end management systems for ‘the most interactive sports attraction in North America’.

At Richmond Olympic Experience, visitors lace 'em up and experience what a world-class athlete feels as they compete on the international stage. EDM created both the feature visitor-facing software as well as the back-end management systems for 'the most interactive sports attraction in North America'.

We love digging into software and digital interfaces, but what really inspires us is involving visitors physically with the museum environment. At Richmond Olympic Experience (ROX), EDM designed and developed several feature interactives that combine on-screen interactives with the surrounding physical exhibitry.

Balcony Lookout

Perched at the edge of the exhibition floor with vistas clear across the Oval and to the activity level below, the three Balcony Lookouts provide an ‘augmented reality’ view to the Oval during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Visitors tilt and rotate the lookouts to reveal interactive stories featuring everything from the origin of the wood for the 6.5 acre roof overhead to Olympic highlights such as Canada’s own Christine Nesbitt taking gold on the rink below.

Visitors tilt and rotate the lookouts to reveal interactive stories

True Colours

One of the first exhibits viewers encounter when entering ROX is a large, glowing orb encircled by 5 rings. Each ring displays the flags of every participating Olympic nation. As visitors spin the rings, small touchscreens act as interactive portals that reveal stories and highlights of the underlying nation. With its quick hits of content, it’s the perfect introduction to the exhibition.

Visitors spin the ring of flags to reveal stories and highlights of the underlaying nation

Be a Broadcaster

Ever wanted to be on TV? The ‘Be a Broadcaster’ exhibit allows visitors to try their hand at being a sports broadcaster relaying the highlights of the day. Filmed in front of a green screen, visitors first read the highlights from a true-to-life teleprompter. Video of the visitor reading the highlights is then composited ’on location’ into various Olympic venues around the world.

The teleprompter with the broadcaster’s script

Olympic Sporting History

The ‘spine’ of ROX is the 32′ long touch table that tells the story of the Olympics from the inaugural years to present day. Designed to be accessible from both sides of the table (we had to work a little magic to do this without just splitting the screen horizontally across the middle), visitors can browse the stories chronologically, or ‘tour’ the tables using the search guide that leads them around the tables to stories of their choosing.

Olympic Sporting History is a 32′ long Olympic History touch table

Visitors can browse the stories chronologically, or ‘tour’ the tables using the search guide

Olympic Highlight Moments

The Olympic Highlight Moments interactive provides visitors a closer look at the plethora of artefacts on display. From memorable wins to shocking disappointments, visitors can see the background stories, pictures and videos that make the artefacts truly special. Built upon EDM’s Carousel software, curators can quickly and easily add or remove artefacts and their related stories as needed.

Visitors get a closer look at the background stories, pictures and videos that make the artefacts truly special

ROX Smart Exhibit Environment

As always, the interactives on the floor were built upon and are continually maintained by our Smart Exhibit Environment. This digital infrastructure facilitates exhibit monitoring, remote software updates, on-site content changes, and rapid operational support.

A staff member identifies and resolves an issue on the floor from their mobile device

Content Management

We believe in museums that evolve and change over time. With that in mind, all on-screen content is updateable using a web-based content management system. Easy to use and access, staff can make changes ‘on the fly’ at a moments notice. And because the system is web based, curators can update using a tablet or smartphone from within the gallery.

All on-screen content is updateable using a web-based content management system

If you’re interested in knowing more about this project, please contact us for more information.